Latest Fraud Headlines

All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.

California Warehouse Worker Arraigned for Alleged Workers’ Comp Fraud

Feb 3 2021 // Crescencio Velasco Covarrubias, 45, of Button Willow, Calif., was arraigned this week on multiple felony counts of insurance fraud after allegedly failing to disclose prior work-related injuries in order to collect...

Revenue-Seeking Cyber Criminals Increasingly Target Businesses Over Individuals

Feb 2 2021 // Cyber criminals shifted away from stealing individual consumers’ information in 2020 to focus on bigger, more profitable attacks on businesses, according to a report from the Identity Theft Resource Center.The...

Cryptocurrency Crime Drops in 2020 but ‘Decentralized Finance’ Losses Rise: Study

Jan 29 2021 // Losses from cryptocurrency theft, hacks and fraud fell 57% last year to $1.9 billion, as market participants boosted security systems, but crime in the “decentralized finance” space continued to grow, a report...

Auto Theft Jumped in 2020

Jan 27 2021 // Auto theft appears to have increased considerably in 2020 compared to 2019, reversing two years of auto theft declines.A preliminary analysis by the National Insurance Crime Bureau shows there were 873,080 auto thefts in...

Teen Accused of Stealing Nearly $1M from Georgia Supermarket

Jan 25 2021 // A suburban Atlanta teenager has been arrested on charges that he defrauded a supermarket where he worked of nearly $1 million over a two-week period.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports 19-year-old Tre Brown was...

California Insurance Agents Arraigned in $687K Grand Theft Scheme

Jan 25 2021 // Licensed insurance agents Robert Farmer, 65, of Camarillo, Calif., and Marion Urcan, 67, of Agoura Hills, Calif., were arraigned in mid-January in Los Angeles County Superior Court on multiple counts of grand theft after...

California Construction Worker Charged with Workers’ Comp Fraud

Jan 22 2021 // Jose Zepeda, 45, of Fresno, Calif., self-surrendered this week on multiple felony counts of insurance fraud and attempted perjury after filing a workers’ compensation insurance claim and allegedly misleading the...

California COVID-19 Benefits Fraud, Cyber Attack Could Reach $9.8B

Jan 20 2021 // California may have paid out nearly $10 billion in phony coronavirus unemployment claims – more than double the previous estimate – with some of that money going to organized crime in Russia, China and other countries,...

California Insurance Agents Arraigned in $687K Grand Theft Scheme

Jan 12 2021 // Licensed insurance agents Robert Farmer, 65, of Camarillo, Calif., and Marion Urcan, 67, of Agoura Hills, Calif., were arraigned this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court on multiple counts of grand theft after...

Introducing the 2020 Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame

Jan 11 2021 // The year 2020 would not be complete without a recap of America’s worst insurance fraud crimes. Homeless New Yorkers targeted in a $31.7 million slip-and-fall ring. A sober-home mogul trades sex for drugs. A...

Ethics and Insurance Fraud

Jan 7 2021 // It has been reported that the federal government’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program has been victimized by fraud. This program was designed to extend unemployment insurance benefits to self-employed...

Two Businesses, Owners Charged with Fraud Against New York State Insurance Fund

Jan 5 2021 // Two businesses and their owners have been charged with fraud against the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF).Manuel Sanchez and his business Lagos Construction have been charged with grand larceny and other crimes for...

Newly Appointed Florida Deputy CFO to Focus on Insurance Fraud

Jan 4 2021 // Former Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections Julie Jones has been appointed Deputy Chief Financial Officer within the Office of Chief Financial Officer, according to a statement from the Florida Department of...

Introducing the 2020 Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame

Dec 30 2020 // The year 2020 would not be complete without a recap of America’s worst insurance fraud crimes. Homeless New Yorkers targeted in a $31.7 million slip-and-fall ring. A sober-home mogul trades sex for drugs. A...

Former N.Y. Corrections Officer Pleads Guilty to Stealing Unearned Wages

Dec 29 2020 // A former New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) officer has pled guilty to forging paperwork falsely claiming military service so that he could take time off.Kyle Bouille, of Corning,...

Data Theft at Defense Firm Leonardo Targeted Details of Military Aircraft: Arrest Warrant

Dec 23 2020 // MILAN – An investigation into a data theft at Leonardo has found that a hacker working inside the Italian defense group appeared to target details of Europe’s biggest unmanned fighter jet program and aircraft used...

Wisconsin Dentist Accused of Breaking Teeth in Insurance Fraud Scheme

Dec 21 2020 // A Wisconsin dentist is accused of damaging his patients’ teeth so that he could bill insurance companies for crown procedures.Scott Charmoli, 60, of Grafton, has been charged in federal court with eight counts of...

Exxon Argues Massachusetts Climate Fraud Lawsuit Punishes It for Opinion

Dec 17 2020 // Exxon Mobil Corp. told a judge that a fraud lawsuit filed by Massachusetts last year amounts to illegal punishment for the energy giant’s views about fossil fuels, the latest twist in their bitter clash over climate...

Maryland Woman Charged with Insurance Fraud After Setting Fire to Her House

Dec 17 2020 // After a lengthy investigation, deputies of the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office have charged a Caroline County woman for intentionally setting fire to her house.The fire was reported to 911 by a passer-by around...

Iowa Insurance Agent Fined $18K, Loses License Over Fraudulent, Dishonest Practices

Dec 15 2020 // An Iowa insurance agent has been ordered to pay $18,000 in civil penalties and relinquish her producer’s license over fraudulent and dishonest business practices, regulators say.The Iowa Insurance Division cited...